Rotten Reality
by OnyxFlames
Summary: "Sometimes what you perceive to be someone's reality is a lie. A perfect exterior could hide a much uglier truth. Cold, hidden secrets are masked by a facade of perfection. That popular classmate that always get straight As and never seems to have a single worry could be the unhappiest of them all. You would've never guessed. I wish I could've deduced his reality sooner." -Naruto
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

Warnings: Severe child abuse (mental and physical), there might be sexual abuse (unlikely), eating disorders, self-harm, suicidal tendencies, attempted suicide(s), minor drug use, depressive thoughts, etc. This is rated M for a reason! If you think you might be triggered by any of these warnings, proceed at your own caution. I will not be providing any warnings (except this one) when the above content appears in any one of the chapters.

* * *

Things aren't always the way they seem. Perfect family images mask an ugly reality. I'm not perfect, not even close to it; I give dishonor to the word. Father could testify to that. I always disappointed him. Why couldn't I be more like Itachi? Why couldn't I make him proud? Why couldn't I be thinner? Why, why, why? I've learned to accept that I'll never reach perfection; I'll always be a failure. I deserve Father's punishments. I'm a mistake. A mistake that could never be fixed because it's just so erroneous.

I look at my reflection, and I see a hideous creature. No wonder Father is ashamed. I'm a murderer, a killer. Why was I born? Why must've Mother's life been sacrificed to give birth to such a sinful being? I want to die. I want to throw myself into a fiery pit full of daggers as that would be the only justifiable death I could receive as someone like me deserves to live. I deserve to live through this hell. That must be the only explanation as to why Father has restrained from killing me. I deserve to suffer. And suffer I will.

There was a time that I thought that Father's treatment of me was unfair. That was a mere childhood fallacy. I'm a burden to everyone around me. If I wasn't born, Mother would've lived. If I wasn't born, Father would be happy. If I wasn't fucking born, Itachi wouldn't have had to stay in this God-forsaken place just because I didn't want him to leave. I'm a selfish bastard. My "friends" wouldn't have to burden themselves with me. I doubt they're my friends. If they were, they wouldn't feed me such transparent, obvious lies. I'm not "too thin". I'm not "trying too hard". I don't try hard enough. It's tempting to believe their lies, though. But, I won't be an even huger disappointment than I already am! I don't deserve friends, anyway… especially Naruto.

I'm a failure, a mistake; I am Sasuke Uchiha. I am the exact opposite of perfection. I wish I was worthy. I wish I was loved. But, I don't deserve it, and wishful thinking gets you nowhere.

I am _Nobody_.

* * *

Author's Note: This chapter is very short, but that is because it's just the prologue. This was meant to give you guy's a glimpse into Sasuke's state of mind. "Mother" and "Father" are capitalized purposely to show Sasuke's feelings of respect and inferiority towards his parents. This is my first ever story, so I'm a little nervous. I hope you guys enjoy it! I'll probably post the first chapter sometime this week, but there are no guarantees. This is going to be a Naru/Sasu friendship story, although it might delve into romance. Itachi will also play a huge part in this.


	2. Chapter 1: The Birth

**Chapter 1: The Birth**

"_Fugaku Uchiha and his wife, Mikoto Uchiha, are the heads of Uchiha Corporations, and through the family's continuous management of the corporation, they have succeeded in remaining one of the town's most prosperous families. The Uchiha's unremitting success and prosperity has been the focus of many a town gossip, and their riches have contributed greatly to the town's economic output and employment. To this day, Uchiha Corporations remains the town's single largest employer. Uchiha Corporations is a private civil litigation law firm that deals with everything from environmental law to education law. The management and ownership of Uchiha Corporations has been passed down through each generation of Uchihas since Madara Uchiha, the original founder of the corporation in the late 1820s and co-founder of the town of Konoha itself. The inheritance of Uchiha Corporations is of huge importance in keeping the family lineage and wealth alive, and Fugaku and Mikoto's precocious five-year old son, Itachi, is already expected to take on the role in the event of either of their passing. Today is an important day in the lives of the Uchiha family as Mikoto is expected to give birth to another child. This child will be expected to take on the management of Uchiha Corporations along with Itachi, as traditionally, the firm has been upheld by two people from the family: Madara and his brother, Izuna; Kagami and his son, Shisui; Fugaku and his wife, Mikoto._"

- The Daily Herald, July 23rd, 1995

* * *

"What should we name the baby?" Mikoto directed her question towards Fugaku. Itachi was sitting on her lap, fiddling with her hair.

"I don't know. The ultra-scan said it was a boy, right?" Fugaku answered.

"You don't know? How many times have we gone over this?" Mikoto sighed. "I can't believe we've known its gender for five months now and we still haven't come up with a name! You know, the doctor estimated my delivery date to be today. I doubt it's going to come today, though. Those things are never accurate, and I haven't really had many contractions today. But, the point is, it's coming soon. We need to come up with a name."

"Why are you getting so mad at me? It's not like you've come up with any ideas."

"What are you talking about? I've suggested tons of names; you just haven't liked any of them!"

"Sarutobi! Sarutobi!" Itachi piped up. Mikoto and Fugaku looked at each other.

"That's it!" They both exclaimed at the same time.

"Sarutobi Sasuke is a legendary ninja warrior who transformed ninja's reputations from black-magic assassins to elite heroes. It's perfect! I just know he'll grow up to be a brave hero," Mikoto explained.

"I agree. Sasuke…," Fugaku tested the name out on his tongue, "I like the sound of that. Such a name deserves to belong to a child of mine! He'll grow up to be great. He'll make us proud," Fugaku gestured with his hands excitedly.

Suddenly, Mikoto gently pushed Itachi off her lap and quickly grasped the side of her stomach as she started to feel some very deep and painful contractions. "I-I think it's coming!"

* * *

Mikoto was lying on the hospital bed with Fugaku and Itachi by her side and doctors and nurses all around.

"Heh, I guess the doctor's estimate was accurate, huh?" Fugaku teased. Mikoto just nodded.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Sanchez, the obstetrician/gynecologist that will be in charge of your delivery today. Currently, we are waiting for your cervix to dilate fully to ten centimeters to begin the delivery process. If in twenty minutes it hasn't fully dilated, we're going to have to give you an episiotomy, a small cut to enlarge the vaginal opening, so your baby's head has enough room to crown."

"Okay, thank you, doctor." Mikoto answered.

_20 Minutes Later_

"We are about to begin the delivery process. We advise for your son to be taken outside as most pregnancies are usually too graphic for a kid his age to handle. We have a children care center right across the hall. He's going to be there a while as the average pregnancy takes about twelve hours," Dr. Sanchez advised.

"Okay. I will," Fugaku answered as he motioned for Itachi to move outside. He walked with Itachi across the hall to the children care center. "Itachi, you're going to be staying here with some other kids while mommy gives birth to your little brother, okay?"

"Okay, will mommy be okay? She looks like she's in pain."

"Yes, of course she'll be okay. You'll also be coming home with a new brother at the end of this. Isn't that exciting?"

"Yay! I can't wait to see Sasuke!"

"Yeah, me too. I'll see you soon, son." Fugaku walked back towards the hospital room. As he walked into the room, a very shrill beeping was heard.

"Blood pressure is rising!"

"Her mouth is twitching!"

"She's experiencing tonic contractions. Make sure she doesn't bite her tongue! Check if the baby has gone into bradycardia!"

"Doctor, she's gone cyanotic. We need to remove the placenta and get the baby out. The baby is teetering on bradycardic and normal heart rhythms."

"Okay, get her into the OR!"

The nurses all rushed out of the hospital room, patient bed in tow.

"What's going on?!" Fugaku managed to shout amidst all the chaos and shock.

"Your wife is experiencing an eclamptic seizure. This is usually resolved by the removal of the placenta during pregnancy, but seeing as your wife has already gone cyanotic, it's likely that she'll fall into a coma. Chances of awakening beyond this point are minimal. The removal of the baby is key at this point. It still has a chance of surviving given that it hasn't fully gone into bradycardia. I'm sorry to say that all you can do at this point is wait to see the outcome," Dr. Sanchez looked sympathetic.

Fugaku stood there paralyzed as the doctor walked past him. He couldn't believe this. This was supposed to be one of the happiest days of his life. How could it have turned out like this? He slowly kneeled down as he moved his hands toward his face and began sobbing. He doesn't know how long he was kneeling there in the desolate and barren hospital room, but it must've been quite a while as suddenly the doctor and a nurse stood before him holding an infant. "How's my wife?" Fugaku asked frantically, paying no attention to the infant.

"Well, I'm sorry to say that your wife has slipped into a coma, as was expected, but your child is in a good, healthy state. It survived the pregnancy!" the doctor informed. Fugaku took notice of the child for the first time and stared directly into its eyes. He didn't see the eyes of an innocent child, of Sasuke, his son, but the eyes of a monster. It is this _thing's_ fault that his beautiful and precious wife has fallen into the state that she's in. He may never get to speak to her again. This _thing_ has ruined his life. And, her life.

"Have you decided on a name for the child?" Dr. Sanchez inquired. "I've gotten one of the nurses to bring the birth certificate over."

"Sasuke," Fugaku managed to say. This thing isn't a hero. This thing doesn't deserve a name. It deserves to be forever known as a _nobody_. It doesn't deserve for its existence to be acknowledged. It's an _it_, a _thing_. Not a person, not a being. No one of importance. But, alas, Sasuke was what was decided on, and Fugaku couldn't bring himself to devote any more time on deciding on a name for that _monster_.

* * *

Fugaku was sitting on a chair with Sasuke on his lap as he waited for Itachi to come out of the children care center.

"Daddy! Is that Sasuke?" Itachi asked as he prodded Sasuke and tried to take him away from Fugaku's hold.

"Yes, it is Sasuke," Fugaku delivered a fake smile.

"Where's mommy?

"Well, you see…" Fugaku didn't know how to bring himself to explain the reality of the situation to a five-year old innocent child.

"She's sleeping, and she'll be sleeping for a very long time. Giving birth to Sasuke has tired her greatly, and you may not be able to speak to her for several years. "

"So, Sasuke tired her out? Why? I want to talk to mommy! Why did he do that?"

Before Fugaku could respond, a nurse did. "Honey, Sasuke didn't do it purposely. In fact, it wasn't his fault at all. Your mommy gave all her willpower to make sure Sasuke was born alive and healthy. Your mommy is very happy Sasuke is born, and you should be too. Sometimes, these things happen in life. Your mommy wants you to be happy too. She knows you'll miss her, but it's not the end for sure. She might wake up. Now, smile. You have a new brother!" Itachi did just that and then tugged on Fugaku's sleeve for Sasuke to be put down, so he could play with him. Fugaku put Sasuke down and then motioned for him and the nurse to walk a bit farther, so Itachi couldn't overhear them.

Fugaku stared at her blankly. "Oh, I'm sorry. It just seemed like you needed a little help there. I just came to give my condolences. My name is Shizune, a friend of your wife. I'm so sorry about what happened. Mikoto's a very good person. I hope she wakes up. We used to hang out all the time, but we haven't been in contact for quite a while. I can't believe what just happened!"

"It's okay, thank you. I don't know what I would've said to Itachi. Yeah, Mikoto has mentioned you. In fact, she was thinking of calling you yesterday."

"Oh, really? I really regret losing contact with her. If you ever need someone to talk to, I know a really good psychologist. She's also specialized in dealing with children."

"Thank you, but that won't be necessary. I'll come to you if it ever does become a necessity, though. I better be going. It's late, and I need to get Itachi and Sasuke home."

"Okay, nice meeting you! Bye."

Fugaku walked back over to where Itachi and Sasuke were and gently picked Sasuke up from the ground where Itachi was playing with him. He couldn't help but stare into the child's eyes again. He still saw a monster. Those eyes aren't innocent. They're the eyes of a killer. Mikoto didn't choose to have an eclamptic seizure. He'd have chosen Mikoto's life over this _thing's_. Well, now that it was alive, it was going to pay.

* * *

Author's Note: Haha, well, I lied. I posted chapter 1 later today. I was originally going to post this later, but I decided that the prologue was too short. I know this chapter is a bit boring, but that's because it's just the beginning. I had to detail Mikoto's birth to show the premise of how this whole thing started. Constructive criticism is welcome given that I am a new author, and I want to improve. I proof read this, but there still might be a few typos and errors. I'd gladly change them if they were pointed out. Well, I hope you guys enjoy, and please review!


End file.
